Synthesis Analysis of One Severe Convection Precipitation Event in Jiangsu Using Ground-Based GPS Technology

Hao Wang,Ming Wei,Jianxin He,Zhendong Zhang

doi:10.3390/atmos6070908

Abstract

Global positioning system (GPS) detection technology has several advantageous characteristics (i.e., all-weather applications, high accuracy, high spatial and temporal resolution, and low cost), and GPS tracking and monitoring techniques for water vapor have developed rapidly in recent years. The GPS-precipitable water vapor (GPS-PWV), obtained through inversion using this technology can reflect the water vapor inflow and outflow in a vertical air column above a certain area in nearly real-time, which is especially important for areas of severe water vapor variation. In this paper, we studied the relationship between GPS-PWV variation and actual precipitation. The specific aim was to identify the underlying physical mechanisms driving the variation and to further strengthen the utility of GPS-PWV in forecasts and warnings of severe convection weather. We concluded that (1) rapid rise in the GPS-PWV in the long-term low-level data predicted the arrival of precipitation and was therefore useful in weather forecasts; (2) the GPS-PWV variation was closely related with the movement of the water vapor transfer belt; (3) the atmosphere showed an unstable energy structure before the GPS-PWV increase; and (4) local motion was strongly related with the development and maintenance of precipitation.

Highlights

Water vapor represents a small fraction of the atmosphere, it is its most active element and it plays a critical role in atmospheric processes such as cloud formation, precipitation, and climatic variation [1,2]
To understand the distribution and variation of the Global positioning system (GPS)-precipitable water vapor (PWV), data were collected at 11:00 a.m., 6:00 p.m., and 10:00 p.m. on June 2009 and at 6:00 a.m. on June 2009 from 13 stations, and a kriging interpolation was applied to the study region
In regards to the evolution trend of the GPS-precipitable water vapor (GPS-PWV), we identified two development stages that consisted of an accumulation and a releasing stage

Summary

Introduction

Water vapor represents a small fraction of the atmosphere, it is its most active element and it plays a critical role in atmospheric processes such as cloud formation, precipitation, and climatic variation [1,2]. Radio-sounding data, which are commonly used in weather studies [3], barely reflect the continuous transformations in atmospheric water vapor because of their low temporal and spatial horizontal resolution. Such data fail to satisfy the requirements for advanced weather research such as highly refined forecasting of weather changes. Global positioning system meteorology (GPS/MET) started in the 1990s and developed rapidly It has many advantages for obtaining atmospheric water vapor content data. GPS-PWV data have been widely used in meteorology applications

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Conclusion